Handheld electronic devices are used in a wide variety of applications and environments. The ubiquity of such devices as mobile phones, digital still cameras and video cameras, handheld music and media players, portable video game devices and controllers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), personal navigation devices (PNDs), and other handheld devices speaks the popularity and desire for these types of devices. However, controlling the multitude of functions of a handheld device can often be awkward or clumsy, due to the small size of the devices. For example, handheld devices with a button input or touch screen typically require two hands of the user to be effectively used, as well as the close attention of the user when operating the device.
Motion sensors, such as inertial sensors like accelerometers or gyroscopes, can be used in handheld electronic devices. Accelerometers can be used for measuring linear acceleration and gyroscopes can be used for measuring angular velocity of a moved handheld electronic device. The markets for motion sensors include mobile phones, video game controllers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile internet devices (MIDs), personal navigational devices (PNDs), digital still cameras, digital video cameras, remote controls, and many more. For example, mobile phones may use accelerometers to detect the tilt of the device in space, which allows a video picture to be displayed in an orientation corresponding to the tilt. Video game console controllers may use accelerometers to detect motion of the hand controller that is used to provide input to a game. Picture and video stabilization is an important feature in even low- or mid-end digital cameras, where lens or image sensors are shifted to compensate for hand jittering measured by a gyroscope. Global positioning system (GPS) and location based service (LBS) applications rely on determining an accurate location of the device, and motion sensors are often needed when a GPS signal is attenuated or unavailable, or to enhance the accuracy of GPS location finding.
Many existing handheld electronic devices tend to use only the very basic motion sensors, such as an accelerometer with “peak detection” or steady state measurements. For example, current mobile phones use an accelerometer to determine tilting of the device, which can be determined using a steady state gravity measurement. Such simple determination may not be acceptable for more sophisticated applications which would require gyroscopes or other applications having precise timing capabilities. Without a gyroscope included in the device, the tilting and acceleration of the device is not sensed reliably. Also, motion of the device is not always linear or parallel to the ground, and many current devices will often not sense other types of motion accurately. Therefore, existing devices are restricted in their motion sensing ability, and limited in how they use motion sensing to enable functions and control of the device.
A variety of devices, systems and applications (which may or may not be relevant to inventions herein) have sought to take advantage of motion sensor detection, including gaming devices, mobile telephones, and devices with military applications. A number of industry segments have evolved to design and manufacture such devices, systems and applications, from component designers to end-user device manufacturers and software developers. The state of the current art, however, is still limited by the accuracy of motion sensing that can be achieved via existing motion sensors integrated in single devices and known implementations are not adequate to serve as a platform for development of a handheld device with integrated motion sensors, where the device facilitates personal communications and provides access to visual content made available by or through the device.
For example, sophisticated Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) devices have been designed to include motion sensing along three gyroscopic axes, three accelerometer axes and three compass axes. Generally, these devices have been relatively-large devices, not fit for handheld applications directed at end users, and instead deployed in industrial or military settings. For example, IMUs have been incorporated in satellites orbiting the Earth, which need to maintain particular orientations with antennas and other communication systems facing the Earth.
Other devices intended for end-user applications attempt to reduce form factors while incorporating motion sensors. For example, some devices may incorporate motion sensing along three accelerometer axes (in addition to detection of an optical source placed close to a display) to facilitate user interaction with video games. One improvement released recently is an attachment for the Nintendo® Wii® Remote™ game remote control and denoted MotionPlus, which is a distinct add-on device that plugs into the Wii Remote, and adds a set of sensors capable of detecting motion along three gyroscope axes (these sensors are manufactured by InvenSense, the assignee of this patent). The MotionPlus, combined with the Wii Remote, produces a compounded device that can sense motion along a combined three gyroscope axes and three accelerometer axes.
Details regarding military devices and applications are generally not known in the public domain, and this also applies to motion sensing technology. It is reasonable to assume at this point (although this is not by any means actually known to be true) that state-of-the-art personal head-worn visual displays used in military applications (e.g., sophisticated glasses or goggles that include an electronic display, possibly integrated as part of a helmet) may include motion sensors capable of detecting motion along three gyroscope axes and three accelerometer axes. It is unlikely, however, that in such an application, if it existed, any significant integration of gyroscopes and accelerometers has been achieved. Further, many interactions with applications on a hand-held device via motion of the device, such as icon selection, menu selection or list scrolling, would be impractical or impossible via such a military head-worn visual display (e.g., shaking a phone to activate a feature is feasible, but shaking the head to achieve the same result on a head-worn visual display is not). Consequently, such military devices do not serve as good platforms for developing a handheld device with integrated motion sensors that facilitates personal communications and provides access to visual content made available by or through the device. No company has attempted to modify such military systems into such a communication handheld device, and indeed such a modification would be inappropriate, counterintuitive and not economically feasible.
Additional devices and components have been introduced on the market providing various degrees of integration of accelerometers and sensors, but none of them provide 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis accelerometer motion sensors for sufficient accuracy and serve as adequate building blocks for next generation handheld mobile devices. Examples of such devices and components include motion sensing components marketed by AKM Corporation (which incorporate three accelerometers and three compass sensors), wireless mice, pointer devices, and media remote controllers marketed by Movea Corporation and/or Gyration Corporation (which appear to include three accelerometers and two gyroscopes), various mobile phones (which currently incorporate three accelerometers), portable video game add-on attachments, photo and video cameras (which may incorporate up to two gyroscopes for image stabilization purposes, and possibly also one-to-three separate accelerometers if they also incorporate hard drives), and navigation systems (which may incorporate up to two gyroscopes and three accelerometers). The number of accelerometers and gyroscopes cited above are estimated based on currently available public information.
Some devices having accelerometers and gyroscopes may separate the set of accelerometers and the set of gyroscopes into two distinct units. The two sets of sensors may be disposed relatively far from each other, which introduces spatial separation between the two sets of sensors, making unified motion detection more difficult and less accurate. Furthermore, the two sets of sensors may rely on communication via the interface between the two distinct units, which can make synchronization of the data from the accelerometers and gyroscopes more difficult and inaccurate.
Some devices also do not integrate a display subsystem to permit direct interaction with games (whether an actual display or logic capable of substantially producing an image to be displayed on an external device). Consequently, such devices do not serve as a good platform for developing a handheld device with integrated motion sensors that facilitates personal communications and provides visual access to graphical data, such as a mobile phone with an integrated or external display.
United States patent application US20090066637A1 discloses a handheld device that incorporates “various gyroscopes and accelerometers” and displays a map on an integrated screen. Motion of the device is used to modify the field of view of the map. This navigation-assistive device does not disclose any specific integration of accelerometers and gyroscopes or any specific personal communication functionality. Further, the device of US20090066637A1 is not adapted or intended to facilitate user interaction with content beyond a map. Consequently, US20090066637A1 does not disclose, and does not suggest any desirability or avenue for the development of, a handheld device that incorporates a set of closely-integrated accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors, where the device facilitates personal communications and provides access to a broad range of visual content made available by or through the device.
United States patent application US20080034321A1 discloses a handheld device that incorporates motion sensors and permits a user to control certain content displayed on a screen integrated in the device, such as a video stream. This device incorporates an accelerometer implemented in certain specific electronic circuit configuration (see FIGS. 10 and 11). US20080034321A1 appears to contemplate up to two additional accelerometers, for a total of three accelerometers (see paragraph [0097]), and the introduction of a gyroscope (either as a replacement for an accelerometer or as a sensor that is somehow combined with an accelerometer—see paragraph [0099]). US20080034321A1 does not disclose any architectural details of how a gyroscope could be introduced into the handheld device disclosed in that application, and does not contemplate any close integration between one or more accelerometers and a gyroscope. Consequently, US20080034321A1 does not disclose, and does not suggest any desirability or avenue for the development of, a handheld device that incorporates a set of closely-integrated accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors, where the device facilitates personal communications and provides access to a broad range of visual content made available by or through the device.
United States patent application US20060279542A1 discloses a handheld device that permits a user to manipulate a geographic map displayed on an integrated screen via movement of the device. US20060279542A1 suggests additional content that could be manipulated by the user, such as other types of maps and pages of documents. According to US20060279542A1, the device may incorporate up to three accelerometers, or possibly “a gyroscope and an accelerometer arrangement” (see paragraph [0038]). In connection with FIG. 14, US20060279542A1 discloses that preferably the motion sensors is mounted on the back of the device, apparently on an outer surface of the device (see paragraph [0046]). US20060279542A1 discloses the use of accelerometers and gyroscopes as motion sensors for the handheld device, in particular a gyroscopic cube with a side of approximately 1 cm and up to three accelerometers (see paragraph [0059]). US20060279542A1 does not disclose any architectural details of how the gyroscopes and accelerometers could be incorporated into the handheld device, and does not contemplate any close integration between one or more accelerometers and one or more gyroscopes. Consequently, US20060279542A1 does not disclose, and does not suggest any desirability or avenue for the development of, a handheld device that incorporates a set of closely-integrated accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors, where the device facilitates personal communications and provides access to a broad range of visual content made available by or through the device.
PCT patent application WO03001340A2 discloses a handheld device that incorporates motion sensors and can be used to interpret certain user gestures. According to WO03001340A2, before gesture recognition can be performed, the device of WO03001340A2 must necessarily perform a classification step that assigns gesture data according to broad criteria to on of a plurality of predetermined classes (see lines 30-34 on page 5). The motion sensors incorporated in the device disclosed in WO03001340A2 may include up to three accelerometers and up to three gyroscopes (see lines 16-19 on page 7). FIG. 5 of WO03001340A2 shows the various motion sensors as discrete and independent sensors. WO03001340A2 does not disclose any architectural details of how the gyroscopes and accelerometers could be incorporated into the handheld device, and does not contemplate any close integration between one or more accelerometers and one or more gyroscopes. Consequently, WO03001340A2 does not disclose, and does not suggest any desirability or avenue for the development of, a handheld device that incorporates a set of closely-integrated accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors, where the device facilitates personal communications and provides access to a broad range of visual content made available by or through the device.
United States patent application US20030231189A1 discloses a handheld device that uses motion sensors to permit user manipulation of content displayed on an integrated screen. The motion sensors disclosed in US20030231189A1 may include one or more accelerometers and one or more gyroscopes. US20030231189A1 does not disclose any architectural details of how the gyroscopes and accelerometers could be incorporated into the handheld device, and does not contemplate any close integration between one or more accelerometers and one or more gyroscopes. Consequently, US20030231189A1 does not disclose, and does not suggest any desirability or avenue for the development of, a handheld device that incorporates a set of closely-integrated accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors, where the device facilitates personal communications and provides access to a broad range of visual content made available by or through the device.
Based on the inventors' research, a sophisticated handheld device that incorporates motion sensors, provides the functionality of a mobile phone and facilitates user interaction with visual content provided by or through the device would require a graphical user interface that is particularly adapted to utilize the motion sensing capabilities of the device. Various extensions and modifications of traditional computer graphical user interfaces have been introduced in the existing art. For example, United States patent application US20090037848A1 discloses a graphical user interface that displays various objects together with a graphical representation of the relationships between the objects (see, e.g., FIG. 2 displaying enterprise objects and graphical relationships between the enterprise objects). Prior art systems and methods such as the one described in the US20090037848A1 do not provide good platforms for developing a handheld device with integrated motion sensors that facilitates personal communications and provides access to visual content made available by or through the device.
It is a clear conclusion that none of these devices or components are capable of detecting motion along three gyroscope axes and three accelerometer axes while serving as a good platform for development of a handheld electronic device adequate for personal communications. Further, it is clear that none of these devices or components have achieved any significant integration of accelerometers and gyroscopes in a single module, and such integration is not in any way obvious, suggested by, or otherwise directly facilitated by the existing art.